Simple Obedience

Over the last day and a half it’s been an incredibly moving experience getting to hear people’s stories, especially the key note speakers and I was extremely excited to hear Francis Chan talk. I even made my friend Becca wait two hours early so we could be first in line into the stadium to get front row seats. It was certainly an adventure that showcased both my determination and how quickly I can fast walk at a safe pace to appease the gracious stadium workers, but I digress.

Francis Chan talked about Matthew’s call to discipleship. After hearing how Jesus calmed the seas, drove out demons, and healed a paralyzed man, Matthew got up and followed Jesus when Jesus’ issued a simple command: Follow Me.

He then talked about how Matthew didn’t just sit there and pray a prayer to follow Jesus in his heart or a promise to think about following him; he actually got up and followed Jesus. The idea he brought up is that we’ve talked our faith to death over studying scripture, which is good inherently but it means nothing if we don’t follow with action. What we truly need is simple obedience to God. His command itself isn’t that complicated, when Jesus says, “go,” he means to go.

This message was so important to me because it put into words that frustration that I’ve felt over the last few months. I love talking about the Lord and preaching his message to the unreached on my campus, but I need to put Jesus’ message into the social change that weighs heavily on my heart.

For me my faith in action is reaching women who are victims of human trafficking, women who are exploited, and women who are in the sex industry and bringing advocacy to people outside of these injustices. I’ve heard God tell me that this is where I need to be, but today I realized that it’s okay to put myself out there and find ways to move from my comfort of leading bible study to doing that while bringing advocacy into my college community.

I have no doubt that God is leading me on the mission field to serve these women directly, and I’ve been blessed at the exhibition center to find out more ways I can continue to gain knowledge in this scope. I am excited to see what other real world opportunities that there are for me.

God put this simple reminder on my heart today: I am made for this, I was made to seek and serve God’s kingdom.

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Two weeks ago, I spent an hour on the sidewalk listening to my friend firmly assure me that she was NOT going to Urbana. She was not interested, not called, not ready, and definitely not going. Last week, I spent an hour on that same sidewalk jumping up and down with a giant smile on my face as that same friend told me that she knew, for sure, that she needed to go to Urbana.

I remember praying all night for women that I have never met, not just in Tampa but in this world to know how loved they are by Jesus. I prayed that someone, somewhere could do something to help the women of this world who are exploited every day. I haven’t stopped this prayer. I prayed that there would be more people like I had met to serve God’s people in other corners of the world. But then this idea came to me, what if I could do that? What if I could serve God’s people? What if this is my call?

This is definitely going to be one heck of a rollercoaster with quite a few ups and downs. Urbana 15 will be my first Urbana and I don't know what to expect. Everyone that I've talked to who has previously attended Urbana has said it's a life-changing experience and I don't doubt that. We are currently 94 days away from our lives being changed at Urbana.

I have a restless heart, I jump from activity to activity in my life in the blink of an eye wanting to experience everything this world has to offer. And that’s okay, but it’s important for me to remember that nothing matters in my life apart from God and His will.